


Atonement: A Last Supper

by aramisinaskirt (SilverMillennium_QueenNeptune)



Series: Musketeer March 2021 [7]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Author Is Not Catholic, Catholic Prayers, Gen, Musketeer March 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29936397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMillennium_QueenNeptune/pseuds/aramisinaskirt
Summary: Alone and dying, Cardinal Richelieu partakes in some wine and a final meal as he ruminates over his life, his mistakes and his sins against his fellow man, especially a woman he once loved and the rival for her affections.
Relationships: Adèle Bessett/Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Aramis | René d'Herblay & Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Musketeer March 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2190600
Kudos: 3





	Atonement: A Last Supper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [privateerwrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/privateerwrites/gifts).



> Note: This work does have the Hail Mary as a part of the work, written in Latin as the historical Richelieu would have likely recited it in Latin. I am not Catholic and I do apologize if it's being used incorrectly. This was meant to be written for day 7, prompts "Wine/Richelieu" and has been backdated as such! Prompt list I'm using is available [ here ](https://privateerstudies.tumblr.com/post/643477557598142464/musketeer-march)

It is often said that a man can sense the coming of death. Though no one can know the hour at which they may at last be granted an audience with their Maker, it instills a sense of peace in the hearts of those who fear the end of life as man knows it. For the man who had been one of France’s most loyal subjects, there should have been no such anxiety. But for a man who had broken his vows as many times as Cardinal Armand Richelieu had dared to do, there was plenty of reason to be troubled.

Everything that he had done had been in the service of the King. Thus, it was done in the service of France. Armand found poetry in the fact that he was now facing death. This was payment for the many sins he had committed. He wanted to believe that he would live forever, that he would spend all of his days in the palace, as a trusted advisor to kings. There had been many things that made him proud, but he had almost as much to regret.  
  
Richelieu did not want to die alone. There had been too much loneliness in his life. He was surrounded by power. If it wasn’t the power of the church, it was the power of the monarchy. He had liked it that way for many years. The company he kept allowed him opportunities, chances to be close to the king and to influence the government, to be the right hand of a Spanish Queen with a weak-willed husband who needed his counsel. He had carried on a relationship with a beautiful woman, until she had been stolen from him.

The thought of Adele made him reach for his goblet of wine and take a long drink. Unfortunately, he wasn’t prepared for the speed of the flowing liquid, which trickled into his beard and left him spluttering for every difficult breath as he attempted to swallow. The taste was bitter on his lips, but he was used to bitter wines. He had always had a fondness for the taste of Spanish wine. It was one of few indulgences he had allowed himself. The last time he had taken a drink of this particular wine, he had been with Adele. Of course, he was not a sentimental fool. He only allowed himself to drink this wine specifically when the need arose. Tonight, he needed it more than ever. Though Richelieu dared admit it only to a select few, his health was in rapid decline. He wasn’t surprised. Armand would make his peace when the time came to do so. He believed that he could atone and God would forgive him in the sight of his devotion to the Church. God was merciful in that way.

Another sip of wine made his head swim. Visions of Adele began to dance before him. He wanted to wash all of his past errors away. If only it could be done with wine and a decent meal. He fixated on the liquid in the goblet, focusing intently on the color. It was red as blood, and tasted nearly as sharp. Armand should have minded; should have asked for a different wine. But he couldn’t bring himself to make the request. For once in his life, he would take what he had been given and do so thankfully. He gulped another drink, hoping that Adele would disappear. Instead, her voice entered his mind. Three little words had been on her lips when she died. She had died by his order and those words had haunted him ever since. They had been buried among the pleas for mercy and the desperate screams and cries.

_“I love Aramis!”_ The woman who had been the object of both his pride and his lust had died while the declaration of her desire for another man spilled from her lips in the way that one would expect to hear a prayer or a mantra, repeated over and over before she was silenced. He had not been able to bear watching her death, though he had not left the place until it was done. Someday, he would send Aramis to the crypt where he had her buried. He had hoped to be there; to show Adele’s beloved Musketeer what her affections for him had caused. But he would not get the chance. Soon, Richelieu would come face to face with his Maker, and when he did, he wanted his conscience to be clean.

After being served a modest meal, he sent for someone who could hear what was likely to be his final confession. As he waited, he took another sip of wine, and began to pray, hoping that it would begin the process of atonement for what he had done.

“ _Ave Maria, gratia plena,  
  
Dominus tecum,  
  
benedicta tu in mulieribus,  
  
et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus._

_Sancta Maria mater Dei,  
  
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,  
  
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae._

_Amen_.”


End file.
